July+24

.Though it was a warm summer morning the brooms began to hover over Andover as the witches came to the pre- fall coven to sharpen their spell writing methods. Early arrivals gathered around the sacred writing light in the circle of lore.When the final broom was docked, Head Warlock Dennis Kear called the group to order in the absence of the Wizard Mentor Jeff Roper. Steve, one of the attending warlocks ,presented a spell writing prompt. Twas based on Bulwar-Lytton's worst first line sentence contest. Giving examples for the magical host to read helped for indeed writing the worst first line in spell is difficult for this group. They are so used to writing only workable spells. However at the end of the time several memebers shared thier attempts. Judy discussed being ignored at a meeting and stealing the fruit sticks in the martinis. Amy V. revealed her secret vice ( well another one of them anyway) of gambling delights. Amy M.wrote of being rescued by the ski patrol once and riding the t bar down the mountain. Magic failed her that day.Steve read his bad first line of spell as unkown voices summoned Cowboy Dan from the nether space. Sally shared her guilty love of chocolate, Warlock Kear talked of the good from a tornado, Julie wrote of cats in her spell, Melanie over used the to be verb quoting Hamlet ( of course, witches avoid mention of that other classic---The Scottish Play.), Shea entertained with a camping story and Raylin told the group how the coven session had helped find her ability to write. Amy V. led the brew making session telling us how she stirred the young minds of her students as they learned to read and write. Now all of us understand what happens in kindergarten much better. We attempted to write a picture book during her session at the classroom cauldron though there were some distractions. Amy M. sat in the reading wizard's chair and shared with us the book by Robert Bender, Lima Beans Would Be Illegal. Childrens' ideas about what a perfect world would be were interesting and drew cackles of mirth from the audience. After lunch Steve agaiin came before the gathering to present the article summary. His article " Just FaQ's: an alternative teaching to teaching the research paper" by James Strictland stirred a lively discussion among the coven participants. Tonya whose broom had arrived late joined us after lunch to present a report on the technology coven she had just attended in California. Perhaps her broom flight was late due the six packs she encountered there but her report was intriquing. We were pleased to hear that our group is somewhat ahead in the magic of technology. After celebrating the birthday of the head warlock, the group adjoined to the library to write their spells.